


Shallow waters.

by millygal



Series: Crimson [2]
Category: Life on Mars (UK)
Genre: Character Death, Emotional Hurt, Hurt, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mental Breakdown, Mental Institutions, Multi, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-20 02:08:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10652739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/millygal/pseuds/millygal
Summary: Fighting to stay afloat.





	Shallow waters.

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't leave it there, that's really all I can say. Except, this is chocked full of not nice, be warned

Gene's sitting in his office, hiding from his team. It's the first time in his twenty four year career that he's not been able to face his men. How do you motivate a group of people to pick themselves up and carry on when you yourself are having trouble even getting out of bed?

The room outside his office is eerily silent. It's full to overflowing with people all going about their business but they're doing it as quietly as possible. Gene's not sure if it's out of respect for the dead or the living.

Sam's poked his head round the door at least a dozen times and every time he's tried and failed to come up with something to say. Gene can see how much it's effecting him but he's taking his Guv's lead and being strong for the team. 

Gene's proud and a little frightened. The last thing he wants is Sam turning out like him because he thinks it's the 'right' way to deal with the pain but at the same time, he takes comfort in the fact that Sam's obviously learnt something from him.

It's ingrained now, this mask he wears. 

He's smiling and shouting and being his usual arse-ish self all because that's the way he was taught. You don't let the one's looking to you for answers, see you having none.

He understands that everyone here thinks he's a bastard. It's part and parcel of being a leader. You stay strong so that others may break.

The fist that wrapped itself around his heart when he and Sam ran into that back room, has yet to let go and he still feels like he's drowning but there's no way he'll allow himself to shatter while other people need his support.

If he's a git, an unfeeling, unrelenting git, they've got someone to hate and something to take their minds off the fact that Ray's chair is empty along with Chris's.

He eyes the tumbler full of whiskey still sitting, untouched, on his desk and shakes his head. Never before has he wished so painfully that he could be drunk off his arse but he's got things to do and he can't do them unless he's sober.

He may be a line walking alcoholic but he knows when to lay off, even if his hands are shaking, his eyes won't focus properly and his chest is burning with the need for a drink.

White hot rage envelopes him for the briefest of moments and he shoves the glass away from him off the desk and watches, with some satisfaction, as it shatters against the wall. 

The sting of un-shed tears threatens to tip him off his arse and he stands, determined not to give in, not to let himself feel it until he's alone and heads towards the outer office. Snatching up his coat along the way, he practically runs through the squad room.

********

He's being told how Ray's 'Non responsive', how he's 'In a catatonic state of shock'. He thinks they might just be fancy words for crazy. The bloke in the white coat keeps bleating on but Gene's not paying any attention. He can see Ray through the glass surrounding his room and he feels his heart stutter and stop.

He's tied down, they've tied his bloody hands and feet to the bed and Gene's itching to rip the restraints away but he's been assured that it's for Ray's own good. Bollocks. The man's lover's just been cut up right in front of him, he doesn't need restraining, he needs...Gene doesn't know but he's bloody sure that this isn't the way to help.

Finally the doctor's stopped talking and is looking at Gene expectantly. The blank look on Gene's face tells the doctor that he hasn't got a clue what's just been said.

"Mr Hunt, Ray has no family, no next of kin. Mr Skelton..." off Gene's look the doctor lowers his voice "...Mr Skelton was listed as his emergency contact, but..."

"So, what ya sayin'?"

"I assume you're investigating the murder of Chris Skelton?"

Gene grits his teeth and fights the urge to punch him in the mouth, "Yea, so"

"You've got jurisdiction over Ray"

"You mean.."

"I'm afraid, it looks like Ray's not going to make a full recovery. His mind's been altered by what he saw in that club. We may need you to sign off on him being detained"

"No fuckin' way!"

The doctor steps back, crosses his arms in front of himself and nails Gene with a look that makes his skin crawl.

"You understand, we don't actually need you to OK him being locked down. I thought, having read his notes, that out of courtesy I should consult with you. If you fail to see what it is we're trying to do, then I'll be forced to go over your head"

Gene clenches his fist but doesn't lash out. He's a DCI and DCI's do not hit Doctors. Although this one is trying his patience. They can't...it's not right.

He thinks on all the scum bags he's had put away inside little white rooms with no windows and suddenly feels sick. If he doesn't agree, they'll take him anyway. He'll be forced to undergo shock therapy. Gene's seen what that can do to a person and it ain't pretty. Why, why the hell do they want to throw Ray in a rubber room?

"What exactly is it that you're medicatin' him for, doctor?" 

Gene's voice is frighteningly calm and the doctor, despite only knowing him for a few days, takes a step back instinctively.

"He's been..talking to himself, or at least...He's been having conversations with someone who isn't there. I believe he thinks he's communicating with DC Skelton. He started to refuse treatment yesterday, got extremely violent. Which is why he's being restrained. The medication we were giving him, it was working, which meant he could no longer hear voices and I think that's why he refused any further treatment"

Gene finds himself really wanting to smack the smug shit in the face. His voice is setting Gene's teeth on edge. He's talking about Ray as if he's a lunatic in some asylum. He's not, he's one of Gene's oldest friends and there's no way he'll allow him to be trussed up and shoved in some dank corner for the rest of his life.

"You can't..He's not, he's not some psycho, he's a cop, a bloody good cop and I'm not gonna let you lock him up like some criminal. You can't..."

"I can, Mr Hunt. Under section nine of the Mental Health Act, we are allowed to detain any person seen to be a danger to themselves or others. If we, meaning I, find that said person needs specialist treatment, then we are allowed, by law, to detain them for an indefinite amount of time"

Gene's blood runs cold. Those words, despite their fancy deliverance, are exactly the same words he and Sam used to throw the book at Tony Crane. Now, sitting the other side of the fence, he feels like the lowest piece of dirt.

With bile rising up his throat, Gene lunges forward, grabs the doctor by his collar and slams him into the wall. He sees the bloke's head bounce off brick, his eyes roll back and Gene pulls back as if burnt.

Sliding down the wall, rubbing the back of his head, the doctor looks up at Gene with a cold, calculating look.

"Need I remind you that you are a police officer? Trying to throttle a health official is hardly the behaviour of a decent law abiding man, is it? I understand you're feelings..."

"You understand nothin'. He's...this is, for fuck sake man, he's jus' seen his par..best mate killed, brutally bloody murdered. You'd 'ave trouble formin' a sentence after that. You can't do this to him, to us. Please"

Turning not unfeeling eyes on Gene, the doctor reaches out but doesn't make contact, instead his hand hovers in the air above Gene's arm.

"This is for his own good Mr Hunt. That and the good of the people you claim he protected so well"

"But..he's, how am I, I've already lost one man, don't make me lose another one. He's only been in this hole for three days, you can't seriously expect me to believe that you can diagnose him in that amount of time!"

"I'm sorry but it doesn't really matter what you believe. He's a ward of this hospital and he's under my care"

Gene looks from the Doctor's face to Ray, lying still and quiet in his dank hospital bed. His stomach turns over and over, spinning until he's afraid he'll throw up right there. Determined to reason with the man, Gene turns back to the doctor, but he's already gone. Walking away down the corridor, white coat flapping about his legs.

Laying his hand flat against the glass, Gene rests his forehead up against it and watches as Ray twitches in his drug induced sleep. He can't be certain but he thinks he sees Ray mouthing a name.

After a few minutes, he can't bare it anymore and turns away.


End file.
